Editor's letter

Welcome to the latest issue of Pharmaceutical Technology Focus magazine

With the approval date for Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMS) schizophrenia drug KarXT (xanomeline-trospium) looming, prodrugs – medications that start as inactive or less active, and once inside the body, are converted into the active form – have entered the spotlight as Terran Biosciences works on the development of two prodrug versions of KarXT. 

This month’s cover story looks at the virtues of prodrugs in avoiding adherence issues and Terran’s use of the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) unique 505(b)(2) pathway to bring its prodrug versions of KarXT to market more quickly. 

Also in this issue, a feature examines whether pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are to blame for high drug prices in the US, and a comment piece reflects on the Biden administration’s price cut announcements negotiated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the first ten selected drugs under the Inflation Reduction Act. All this, along with the latest news and deals in the pharmaceutical landscape.

Ross Law, deputy editor